(or here’s a list of what launched yesterday that might deserve a closer look)

Project: Escape the Dark Sector

Designers: Alex Crispin (Escape the Dark Castle), Thomas Pike (Escape the Dark Castle), James Shelton (Escape the Dark Castle)

Artist: Alex Crispin (Escape the Dark Castle)

Publisher: Themeborne Ltd. (Escape the Dark Castle)

Genre/Mechanisms: cooperative play, dice rolling, paper & pencil, press your luck, role playing, storytelling

Player Count: 1-4

Solo Mode: yes

Complexity: light

Risk: medium-high

Summary: The second game in the Escape the Dark series, Escape the Dark Sector is a sci-fi, adventure game focusing on storytelling, player cooperation, and dice rolling combat over the course of 3 acts.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $38

All-In (w/shipping): $86

Campaign Ends: 7/1

Game Ships: March 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 363%, with 30 days to go.

Project: Hard West

Designers: Kornelia Piech, Krzysztof Witkowsky-Soroczan

Artists: n/a

Publisher: Silver Lynx Games

Genre/Mechanisms: area control, cooperative play, dice rolling, miniatures, role playing

Player Count: 2-6

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-heavy

Risk: high

Summary: A board game adaptation of the western/horror themed video game, Hard West includes an elaborate cardboard town and variable player mats that combine with variable weapon mats for up to 14 playable characters with miniatures, including “almost” good guys, “totally” bad guys, and demons.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $172

All-In (w/shipping): $209

Campaign Ends: 6/30

Game Ships: June 2020

Funding Status: Currently at 25%, with 29 days to go.

Project: Papillon

Designer: J.B. Howell (Flotilla, Reavers of Midgard)

Artist: Whitney Rader

Publisher: Kolossal Games (All Manor of Evil, Consumption: Food and Choices, Mezo, Western Legends)

Genre/Mechanisms: area control, bidding, tile drafting, tile placement

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: medium-low

Summary: A flower-themed tile placement game that includes bidding, tile drafting, and area control, with more player interaction than some similarly-themed games such as Cottage Garden.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $57

All-In (w/shipping): $73

Campaign Ends: 6/13

Game Ships: Jan. 2020

Funding Status: Funded; currently at 469%, with 13 days to go.

Project: RoboRama

Designers: Dennis Kirps (King Frog, TF22: LOAD!, What’s Up), Gerard Pierson (Canopy Walk), Patrick Zuidhof (Bloqs, UGO!)

Artist: Franz Vohwinkel (6 nimmt!, Amun-Re, Asara, Blue Moon, Blue Moon City, Bohnanza, Catan, Catan Card Game, Chinatown, Clank! In ! Space!, Domaine, Dominion: Intrigue, Egizia, Exit: The Game – The Abandoned Cabin, Exit: The Game – The Pharoah’s Tomb, Exit: The Game – The Secret Lab, Finca, Francis Drake, A Game of Thrones: The Card Game, Genoa, Java, Lords of Vegas, Lost Cities, Louis XIV, Magic: The Gathering, Maharaja: The Game of Palace Building in India, Medici, Medina, Mega Civilization, Mexica, The Palaces of Carrara, The Princes of Florence, Puerto Rico, The Quest for El Dorado, Ra, Ricochet Robots, RoboRally, Samurai, San Juan, Star Trek: Catan, Starship Catan, The Staufer Dynasty, SticheIn, Taj Mahal, Targi, Tichu, Tikal, Torres, Tsuro, Union Pacific, Web of Power, Winner’s Circle, Wizard, Wyatt Earp, Yedo)

Publisher: Pumpkin Games

Genre/Mechanisms: action movement/progamming abstract, deduction, hand management, miniatures, racing

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: medium-light

Risk: high

Summary: After publisher PLAYthisONE went out of business, Pumpkin Games picked up the licensing on RoboRama– where players use hand management and action programming to simultaneously race each of their four robots against their opponents’ robots.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $65

All-In (w/shipping): $65, same as above

Campaign Ends: 6/29

Game Ships: Oct. 2019

Funding Status: Currently at 3%, with 28 days to go.

Project: Spaceship Zoo

Designer: Sam Milham

Artist: Sam Milham

Publisher: Sam Milham

Genre/Mechanisms: hand management, take that

Player Count: 2-4

Solo Mode: no

Complexity: light

Risk: high

Summary: Players compete to play all of the cards from their hand, eating creatures with hungrier creatures and occasionally playing a game-changing Special Weapon or Space Anomaly.

Base Pledge (w/shipping): $31

All-In (w/shipping): $31, same as above

Campaign Ends: 6/29

Game Ships: Oct. 2019

Funding Status: Currently at 37%, with 28 days to go.